I love all the things about Yule, and Christmas. I love the lights, the trees, the songs, even the snow. But the thing I love the most is the feasting!
However, a big part of the fest for me is the stuffing. I make my grandfather’s recipe every year, but it’s filled with bread and potatoes so what’s a girl to do?
Re-vamp her grandfather’s recipe into a keto one of course! 😉 Below is exactly that:
Ingredients:
1 loaf of hearts of palm bread
2 heads of cauliflower
2 Tbsp of Poultry seasoning
1 whole garlic minced 1 cooked sausage of your choice
1/2 of an onion finely chopped
1 egg
1lb of bacon chopped
2 Tbsp of butter
2 Tbsp of heavy cream
1 Tsp of pepper
1 dash of salt
Instructions: 1) Roughly chop and then cook cauliflower in a pan on medium heat. 2) Remove from heat, add butter and cream and mash. 3) Dice onion, garlic, sausage and bacon and then add to the cauliflower mash. 4) Rip (or cut) up hearts of palm bread into small pieces and add to mash. 5) Add whisked egg and poultry seasoning. 6) Stuff Turkey and cook as usual.
As of this week’s measurements, I’ve lost a total of 13.4lbs, 1.5in off each area: waist, hips, & thighs, and 3/4in off my upper arms 😁 So I’m going to toast my success with toasted coconut 😉 So I headed over to Twosleevers.com and found this lovely keto coconut macaroons recipe. Each macaroon has 2net carbs.
Ingredients
1/4 cup Almond Flour
2 cups Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 egg whites
1/4 cup Swerve
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 400F. Line a 9 x 13 cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together almond flour, coconut, coconut oil or butter, and vanilla extract and set aside.
Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, beat together the egg whites and Swerve until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the almond flour mixture.
Spoon the mixture onto the cookie sheet to get 10-12 scoops.
Bake for 15-16 minutes until the coconut tops start to brown lightly.
Remove from oven and let cool before removing from the cookie sheet.
For my weekly weigh in and measurements this week, I’d lost a total of 9.6lbs since I started 3 weeks ago, and 1.5inches off my waist!
Then I had a rough day, I’ve gone back to university, so I have papers due because it’s nearing the end of the term, I was struggling to write one of them. Add in being scared about going for a CT Scan for the lump on my sternum and I made the bad decision to eat my feelings.
For the last 2 days I have enhaled carb filled, processed crap. I’ve also gained back 2lb cause when I go overboard, I’m damn good at it! So, I’m back up 2lb but I say it was a bad choice not a terrible one because I’m learning. I’m learning how deeply I really connect food with comfort. I am reminded of how many times that special time with my mom who passed away almost 3 years ago included “special foods”. I’m learning how vital it is for me to have at least a couple of pre-made comfort style keto foods frozen for myself.
To that end, I’ve found a delicious keto friendly chicken pot pie recipe, that at 3g net carbs means I can have 2 servings if I feel the need to do so without sabatoging my hard work!
The delicious recipe below is the creation of Kasey Trenum who you can find cooking up all kinds of fantastic recipes on her blog: Kasey Trenum
Ingredients For the Chicken Pot Pie Filling: 2 tablespoons of butter 1/2 cup mixed veggies could also substitute green beans or broccoli 1/4 small onion diced 1/4 tsp pink salt 1/4 tsp pepper 2 garlic cloves minced 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 1 cup chicken broth 1 tsp poultry seasoning 1/4 tsp rosemary pinch thyme 2 1/2 cups cooked chicken diced 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum For the crust: 4 1/2 tablespoons of butter melted and cooled 1/3 cup coconut flour 2 tablespoons full fat sour cream 4 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup mild cheddar cheese, grated 1/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated 1 1/2 tsp parsley (to sprinkle on top)
Instructions
Cook 1 to 1 1/2 lbs chicken in the slow cooker for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sautee onion, mixed veggies, garlic cloves, salt, and pepper in 2 tablespoons butter in an oven safe skillet for approx 5 min or until onions are translucent.
Add heavy whipping cream, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, thyme, and rosemary.
Sprinkle Xanthan Gum on top and simmer for 5 minutes so that the sauce thickens. Make sure to simmer covered as the liquid will evaporate otherwise. You need a lot of liquid for this recipe, otherwise, it will be dry.
Add diced chicken.
Make the breading by combining melted butter (I cool mine by popping the bowl in the fridge for 5 min), eggs, salt, and sour cream in a bowl then whisk together.
Add coconut flour and baking powder to the mixture and stir until combined.
Stir in cheese.
Drop batter by dollops on top of the chicken pot pie. Do not spread it out, as the coconut flour will absorb too much of the liquid.
Bake in a 400-degree oven for 15-20 min.
Set oven to broil and move chicken pot pie to top shelf. Broil for 1-2 minutes until bread topping is nicely browned. Sprinkle dried parsley on top.
Nutrition
For 1/8 of the pie: Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.3g | Protein: 11.6g | Fat: 17g | Fiber: 2g
While my weight loss isn’t nearly as impressive this week (1.2lb) as it was last week (6.8lb) I’ve also lost a full inch off my hips and 1/4 inches off my arms, and that brings my grand total weight loss to 8lbs so I’m still very pleased!
Of course for this week’s celebration, I want a special treat lol. Only I don’t want a cake this time (I know strange for me!) Instead I want ice cream, or at least a frozen treat that reminds me of ice cream!
Hubby has been experimenting in the kitchen to make a frozen treat and so the recipe below is what he made, and is what we’ll be enjoying tonight after dinner. He said he was inspired by the drink “Flying Gorllias” that we had in Cuba on our honeymoon for this flavor combination. While it doesn’t have the “kick” of white rum, rum also doesn’t have carbs, therefore if one is so inclined, a shot of rum alongside it wouldn’t be amiss.
Picture of Chocolate Ice Cream in a glass bowl with a spoon behind it. Set on a table with a flower motif on it.
3/4 can of Kosa Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
2 Tablespoons of Monkfruit Sweetner
1 Tablespoon of sugar free peanut butter
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
2 Tablespoons of Toasted Coconut Flakes.
Carefully scoop the thicker coconut milk (cream) into a bowl and discard the thinner more watery portion.
Add Cocoa powder, Monkfruit, salt and peanut butter to cream and stir until well mixed and fluffy with a hand mixer.
Freeze for an hour.
Sprinkle toasted coconut on top of each serving then enjoy!
Nutritional Information PER SERVING: (Makes 3 servings)
Net Carbs: 7g
Calories: 320
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 4g
Fat: 29g
I’ve listed the nutritional information for the entire batch below to make it easier to calculate if you decide to divide it into a different amount of servings.
Nutritional Information For ENTIRE BATCH:
Net Carbs: 21g
Calories: 961
Fiber: 6g
Protein: 11g
Fat: 87g
Notes: While 7g for net carbs IS higher than one of my mug cakes, so long as one is careful, OR divides it into smaller portions (when divided into 4 portions it’s only 5g of net carbs) it’s still a fun keto friendly treat. Kosa’s coconut milk is super thick and creamy for 3/4 of the can with only a small amount of thinner milk at the bottom, we used all of the thicker part and discarded the thinner milk by not mixing it together. While you can simply buy coconut cream, Kosa’s coconut milk was on sale for $1.08 per can at our local wholesale club so definitely cheaper for us to to make it this way.
Like countless other adults I have gained more weight than I would like, and tried to lose said weight. So it seems a bit silly to announce I’m attempting it again, cause what if I fail, again? Which of course worries me as I’ve been on and off my quest to lose weight so I could book my hernia surgery for at least 4 years now. While I admit I usually have good success for at least a couple of months, it’s around 2-3 months into my journey that I start skipping my workouts and “treating myself just this once” over and over.
I’ve gone through this cycle many many times, and I’m hesitant to say I’ll be successful this time, but more than anything I NEED to be successful this time. I finally have a definitive consultation with a surgeon and I’m told by her receptionist that I’ve got approximately 4-8 months after that appointment for a surgical date. While 4-8 months is quite a vague timeline, it’s far more definitive than waiting till the weight is gone to even begin booking my appointments.
So, I feel I should have the weight gone by the beginning of that window just incase, as the less abdominal fat I have the greater my chance for a successful, pain free (as in no long term pain due to issues or complications) procedure. That means I have 5 months to lose 50lbs. Which is actually reasonable timeline so long as I combine exercise and diet and ya know stick to it.
(Picture of a road with the words: 5 months, 50 pounds, I can do this! written on it.)
For the exercise portion we have a small trampoline, and resistance bands already so it’s just about designing an interval training plan.
For the diet/nutrition portion I’m heading over to I breathe I’m hungry as every time my partner and I have attempted low carb her website has been my go-to for delicious low carb recipes. Last time we attempted this, my partner lost 3 pant sizes and I lost 2 pant sizes with her delicious meals. Had we of stuck to it, we would have lost more and it wasn’t because we got bored with the recipes or they were too hard, it was…
Well to be totally honest it was self (and accidentally partner) sabatoge as I knew I wasn’t going to book my appointments until I’d lost the weight and I was scared of having surgery. I’m still scared, but my hernia has gotten worse and I know if I let it go much longer I’m risking far more serious issues with an emergency surgery for bowel obstruction than a calm, planned hernia repair surgery.
Plus I tell the kiddos all the time “it’s okay to be scared, but you still have to do the things” and I’m a mom who believes in less “do as I say” and more “do as I do”. So now it’s time for me to “do the things” as well.
Behind starburst eyes 